Wednesday, May 28, 2008

HISTORY OF MENDEZ

MENDEZ has a brief but checkered history. It started as a mere sitio of Indang called Gahitan, derived from the Tagalog word gahit (to cut), referring to the cutting of cogon grass which abounded in this place during the early Spanish times.

As time went on, the number of houses in Gahitan increased so that the sitio eventually became a barrio and finally a full-fledged town on December 1, 1875, thanks to Governor General Jose Malcampo Y Monje (1874-1877). Malcampo incorporated the three barrios of Gahitan, Palocpoc and Anuling into one independent municipality called MENDEZ-NUÑEZ.

Why was it called Mendez-Nuñez? It is believed that the town was named by Malcampo, a Spanish admiral, after a close friend. In 1856 two Spanish naval officers, Jose Malcampo and Castro Mendez-Nuñez, established the first Masonic lodge in Kawit under a charter from the Grand Lodge of Portugal. The friendship of these two officers had been tested in many a battle against Muslim pirates from Mindanao, and in memory of his friend Admiral Malcampo, after he had became governor general of the Philippines, named the new town Mendez-Nuñez.

Mendez continued to be a municipality from 1875 to October 15, 1903 when, under Public Act No. 947, the Philippine Commission reduced the 22 municipalities of Cavite to nine. Mendez and Bailen (now General Aguinaldo) were incorporated into the municipality of Alfonso. But 12 years later, on January 1, 1915, Mendez regained its independent status as a municipality of Cavite Province.

Pedro Aure was the gobernadorcillo of Mendez during its first year as a municipality in 1876. Cayetano Aure, perhaps a relative of Pedro, was the first and only capitan municipal of Mendez during the First Philippine Republic, 1899-1901. Pedro’s son, Marcelino Aure, became a famous general during the Philippine Revolution. His nom de guerre was Alapaap (Cloud).

When the Americans established a civil government in the Philippines, General Aure was appointed municipal president of Mendez 1901-1903. It was at the end of his term that Mendez was merged with Bailen and Alfonso under the name of the latter.

TOWN HEADS OF MENDEZ

The municipal executives of Mendez from its establishment to the present are the following: